Gunsmithing Am I out of line? Build problems

[Lawnboi]

Just asking around as I’m curious if I’m out of line. Just finally got my first build back. A little back story.

Sept 2019, I paid a 75% deposit for a tikka rebarrel, which included a new stock, bed job, cerakote and barrel cap. Sent the gun in December as was discussed and waited. Estimated March.

Come March things were not done,2020, expected longer as everyone says to double the time. June comes around and I am sent my rifle. No big deal.

Got the rifle, took the action apart to check it out and immediately notice something is not right. The bolts fall out after a turn. Re torquing the action, I reached torque value of 45 at 1 complete revolution, less than 2 threads were engaging. This seemed odd to me, so I brought up concern with the smith. At this time I did a feed test and the mag was only feeding around 1/3 of the rounds. Rounds were ending nose up. This is a stock plastic tikka mag setup so no longer screws or mag feed lip adjustments. The stocks inlet was too shallow; and now Iv paid for it and a bed job.

Returned the stock to AG composites as instructed and got a refund for the stock from the smith. Decided to buy a krg bravo for the time being to shoot the rifle as I don’t have many and I plan on hunting with the rifle this fall.

And the problems continued. 20moa rail on the gun I was barely able to zero, as in the last mil of an swfa 3-9. Checked with another scope, same. Checked rail on another rifle, all was good. So here I wasn’t really able to zero (don’t want to be in that last 5% of travel) with a 20 moa rail on a 2 30mm scope that has a boat load of travel. Something was fucky.

60 rounds later, and not a single 5 shot group under 1 moa. Shot my other rifles, shot different scopes. Different shooters. All the same poor results with the build

Contacted the smith, he said send it in, thought this was very unlikely.

Smith got the rifle shot it and offered me to re barrel the rifle. I said yes. More waiting, again expected.

Last week after quite a bit of badgering the rifle is finally back in my hands. A 6 month wait on a mcmillan (ordered when I found out the stock inlet was bum) beat this rifle home.

Now I know the smith also got the shaft on this deal. A bum stock inlet, a bum barrel. It’s sucks. The rifle should have never made it to me with the action screws / feeding problem to begin with but at this point it is what it is.

Smith offered to bed the KRG chassis or mcmillan stock, which I don’t want done by him due to the above.

I ask about a refund for the following

Shipping back of the stock
Shipping back of the rifle
Refund for the bed job
Totaling over 200 dollars. Im not a rich man and just eating this after dropping 2k on a build didn’t sit well with me.

I know this build has also cost the smith a significant amount of time and money as well, and I think I peeved him by asking for a refund, but am I wrong as the customer to expect this?

And I havnt shot it yet.... but the smith did before sending it and it showed some promise.

And this is my first custom ish build. Man if they are all like this I’d rip my hair out

 

[...]

doesnt seem unreasonable.....rifle should have been built right the first time....if you had to ship the rifle back for poor work, the smith should eat that.

 

[Average guy]

Seems reasonable

 

[Aftermath]

I'd not use that smith again...

 

[iceng]

Does the end result have bedding in it ? If not, he cant bill for it (opinion, I'm no lawyer). Regardless of stock change or whatever.

It's worth noting that he did want to make it right by you and did go out of his way to help out and get you shooting. I think if you approached him politely or had a coffee with him, things would work out for the best.

 

[GrumpyOleFart]

Fair enough to ask for shipping costs.
Hope you get a better result this time, and don't use him again.

 

[trob]

thats a bummer to hear. I dont think you’re out of line to ask for that refund. What sucks is that if you would have just put a bone stock CTR in a krg bravo yourself, it would be shooting 1/2moa.

 

[Kadams1563]

This is getting aggravating. All of these “Gunsmiths” can’t ASSEMBLE a rifle for shit. How in this day are people still using no names shops and getting shafted.

it’s a Tikka. Pre fits are available. Buy a stock with a chassis, screw barrel on action, screw barreled action in chassis. Done. You just assembled or first precision rifle.

who is the so called “smith” so people don’t use him.

there’s a reason people are buying custom actions. You just throw them in whatever stock or chassis you want to use and bam they just work. Quality parts going on a build and all you have to do is assemble.

 

[Lawnboi]

Does the end result have bedding in it ? If not, he cant bill for it (opinion, I'm no lawyer). Regardless of stock change or whatever.

It's worth noting that he did want to make it right by you and did go out of his way to help out and get you shooting. I think if you approached him politely or had a coffee with him, things would work out for the best.

Thats kind of where I have a dilemma, he offered to bed the bravo chassis which I didn’t want done because I’m going to sell it, he also offered to bed the mcmillan which I’m not having done by him if and when I do have it bed, going to shoot first. But he offered....

Iv been and patient this whole process, or tried to be atleast. No demands, I just asked him his thoughts on a refund for the above. He just hit me back with how much this all cost him, like I didn’t know that already. Again it’s a shit sandwich for both of us, but at the end of the day that rifle should have never left his shop initially.

 

[Lawnboi]

I'd not use that smith again...

Definitely won’t be.

 

[Lawnboi]

This is getting aggravating. All of these “Gunsmiths” can’t ASSEMBLE a rifle for shit. How in this day are people still using no names shops and getting shafted.

it’s a Tikka. Pre fits are available. Buy a stock with a chassis, screw barrel on action, screw barreled action in chassis. Done. You just assembled or first precision rifle.

who is the so called “smith” so people don’t use him.

there’s a reason people are buying custom actions. You just throw them in whatever stock or chassis you want to use and bam they just work. Quality parts going on a build and all you have to do is assemble.

Sad thing is that proof prefits came outwhile I waited. I could have bought a prefit and tools and still been up money.... but scored to give the smith a chance to make it right. After initially getting the gun I was pissed, and after shooting it even more. I’m going to give it some time to see what happens before saying names. Before this week I was about to post a thread asking what I should do to get my gun back.

 

[toader]

Just asking around as I’m curious if I’m out of line. Just finally got my first build back. A little back story.

Sept 2019, I paid a 75% deposit for a tikka rebarrel, which included a new stock, bed job, cerakote and barrel cap. Sent the gun in December as was discussed and waited. Estimated March.

Come March things were not done,2020, expected longer as everyone says to double the time. June comes around and I am sent my rifle. No big deal.

Got the rifle, took the action apart to check it out and immediately notice something is not right. The bolts fall out after a turn. Re torquing the action, I reached torque value of 45 at 1 complete revolution, less than 2 threads were engaging. This seemed odd to me, so I brought up concern with the smith. At this time I did a feed test and the mag was only feeding around 1/3 of the rounds. Rounds were ending nose up. This is a stock plastic tikka mag setup so no longer screws or mag feed lip adjustments. The stocks inlet was too shallow; and now Iv paid for it and a bed job.

Returned the stock to AG composites as instructed and got a refund for the stock from the smith. Decided to buy a krg bravo for the time being to shoot the rifle as I don’t have many and I plan on hunting with the rifle this fall.

And the problems continued. 20moa rail on the gun I was barely able to zero, as in the last mil of an swfa 3-9. Checked with another scope, same. Checked rail on another rifle, all was good. So here I wasn’t really able to zero (don’t want to be in that last 5% of travel) with a 20 moa rail on a 2 30mm scope that has a boat load of travel. Something was fucky.

60 rounds later, and not a single 5 shot group under 1 moa. Shot my other rifles, shot different scopes. Different shooters. All the same poor results with the build

Contacted the smith, he said send it in, thought this was very unlikely.

Smith got the rifle shot it and offered me to re barrel the rifle. I said yes. More waiting, again expected.

Last week after quite a bit of badgering the rifle is finally back in my hands. A 6 month wait on a mcmillan (ordered when I found out the stock inlet was bum) beat this rifle home.

Now I know the smith also got the shaft on this deal. A bum stock inlet, a bum barrel. It’s sucks. The rifle should have never made it to me with the action screws / feeding problem to begin with but at this point it is what it is.

Smith offered to bed the KRG chassis or mcmillan stock, which I don’t want done by him due to the above.

I ask about a refund for the following

Shipping back of the stock
Shipping back of the rifle
Refund for the bed job
Totaling over 200 dollars. Im not a rich man and just eating this after dropping 2k on a build didn’t sit well with me.

I know this build has also cost the smith a significant amount of time and money as well, and I think I peeved him by asking for a refund, but am I wrong as the customer to expect this?

And I havnt shot it yet.... but the smith did before sending it and it showed some promise.

And this is my first custom ish build. Man if they are all like this I’d rip my hair out

Welcome to the world of custom rifles......

 

[cjs88]

Prefits had to have existed before December 2019 when you sent it off. I have a Manners and Bartlein on order for my Tikka. For my first custom I used GAP and had zero issues, besides Spuhr rings not really fitting on the rail for some reason. The Tikka will be sent off to Matt Stewart at Stewart Rifles when I get all the parts.

 

[Mike Casselton]

An education isn't cheap.
When I lived in Idaho we had a local smith less than ten miles away.
Heard too many stories from other people about his time line and total wreck of a shop.
I also heard quite a few stories of rifles that shot really well.
I avoided him and sent my rifle to a very well known smith on the west coast of Washington. What I got back was exactly what I wanted and boy oh boy did it shoot well.
For my next build, I was living in South Dakota and again right there in Rapid City was a local smith. A buddy had told me about him because he was having a 17 Ackley Hornet built.
After 8 months goes by without contact he said he wanted to just get his stuff back. Long story short, we had to trick the fucker into believing my buddy wasn't in town while we were in front of his place waiting to "see" him.
Had to pin him in the driveway to get his parts back.
Took the parts to a pretty good smith in Spearfish and it was ready 3 days later.
BTW, neither of us knew about LRI at the time because I think Chad might have still been with Dakota Arms.
I also used the smith in Spearfish for a couple of rifles and was very pleased.

Now I'm living in Florida and there's no local smith to take things to. I could ship my parts around the state to get the work done, but it'll cost the same to ship to LRI, Tooley or any dozen other guys that have a great reputation.

When you're spending your hard earned money on guns, cars, motorcycles, boats, booze or any other fun thing, the last thing you should be doing is trying to save a buck/cut a corner.
Well known gunsmiths get their reputation by putting out great products in a timely fashion. Yes, there is the occasional hiccup, but they will make it right.

You mentioned the gunsmith offered to bed your stock or the chassis assuming for free.
Would you pay him to do that job? No? Then don't let him do it for free either.

As far as trying to get a reimbursement, I'd let it go. He already ate a second barrel time on the lathe.
For all the other issues, that's the education you just paid for.

It's like having a shitty girlfriend, I'd just move on.

 

[Lawnboi]

Prefits had to have existed before December 2019 when you sent it off. I have a Manners and Bartlein on order for my Tikka. For my first custom I used GAP and had zero issues, besides Spuhr rings not really fitting on the rail for some reason. The Tikka will be sent off to Matt Stewart at Stewart Rifles when I get all the parts.

Proof announced shouldered prefits in carbon, which is what I wanted shortly after I put down money.

 

[Lawnboi]

An education isn't cheap.
When I lived in Idaho we had a local smith less than ten miles away.
Heard too many stories from other people about his time line and total wreck of a shop.
I also heard quite a few stories of rifles that shot really well.
I avoided him and sent my rifle to a very well known smith on the west coast of Washington. What I got back was exactly what I wanted and boy oh boy did it shoot well.
For my next build, I was living in South Dakota and again right there in Rapid City was a local smith. A buddy had told me about him because he was having a 17 Ackley Hornet built.
After 8 months goes by without contact he said he wanted to just get his stuff back. Long story short, we had to trick the fucker into believing my buddy wasn't in town while we were in front of his place waiting to "see" him.
Had to pin him in the driveway to get his parts back.
Took the parts to a pretty good smith in Spearfish and it was ready 3 days later.
BTW, neither of us knew about LRI at the time because I think Chad might have still been with Dakota Arms.
I also used the smith in Spearfish for a couple of rifles and was very pleased.

Now I'm living in Florida and there's no local smith to take things to. I could ship my parts around the state to get the work done, but it'll cost the same to ship to LRI, Tooley or any dozen other guys that have a great reputation.

When you're spending your hard earned money on guns, cars, motorcycles, boats, booze or any other fun thing, the last thing you should be doing is trying to save a buck/cut a corner.
Well known gunsmiths get their reputation by putting out great products in a timely fashion. Yes, there is the occasional hiccup, but they will make it right.

You mentioned the gunsmith offered to bed your stock or the chassis assuming for free.
Would you pay him to do that job? No? Then don't let him do it for free either.

As far as trying to get a reimbursement, I'd let it go. He already ate a second barrel time on the lathe.
For all the other issues, that's the education you just paid for.

It's like having a shitty girlfriend, I'd just move on.

Correct he did offer to bed the chassis or new stock, which I have at home and not in Idaho, where the smith is. I paid for a bed job on a stock with a bad inlet, the stock was returned to AG and I’m guessing returned to the smith, it was bedded so I doubt they refunded him.

If I have to eat 200 bucks it’s not the end of the world. And if that all it cost for an education so be it.

LRI is on my list and will be getting my next build coming up shortly.

 

[Fat Dark Earth]

Correct he did offer to bed the chassis or new stock, which I have at home and not in Idaho, where the smith is. I paid for a bed job on a stock with a bad inlet, the stock was returned to AG and I’m guessing returned to the smith, it was bedded so I doubt they refunded him.

If I have to eat 200 bucks it’s not the end of the world. And if that all it cost for an education so be it.

LRI is on my list and will be getting my next build coming up shortly.

I would take a hard look at GunWare as well. Some of the best people and work in the country.
Shops of that caliber don’t have these issues because they won’t allow it to leave like that.
Sucks but some of us have learned the hard way.
That being said. Hell ya get your 200 back

 

[hafejd30]

LRI did a few Rem 700 bolt knobs/fluting jobs for me a while back

Not only was I very happy with the work but they send you emails and pics of each step of the process so you know it’s getting done. I don’t know if they do this with full builds or not but it certainly showed they take the extra step to satisfy their customers

I’ll definitely use them again

 

[OneMoreNoMore]

What part of florida?

An education isn't cheap.
When I lived in Idaho we had a local smith less than ten miles away.
Heard too many stories from other people about his time line and total wreck of a shop.
I also heard quite a few stories of rifles that shot really well.
I avoided him and sent my rifle to a very well known smith on the west coast of Washington. What I got back was exactly what I wanted and boy oh boy did it shoot well.
For my next build, I was living in South Dakota and again right there in Rapid City was a local smith. A buddy had told me about him because he was having a 17 Ackley Hornet built.
After 8 months goes by without contact he said he wanted to just get his stuff back. Long story short, we had to trick the fucker into believing my buddy wasn't in town while we were in front of his place waiting to "see" him.
Had to pin him in the driveway to get his parts back.
Took the parts to a pretty good smith in Spearfish and it was ready 3 days later.
BTW, neither of us knew about LRI at the time because I think Chad might have still been with Dakota Arms.
I also used the smith in Spearfish for a couple of rifles and was very pleased.

Now I'm living in Florida and there's no local smith to take things to. I could ship my parts around the state to get the work done, but it'll cost the same to ship to LRI, Tooley or any dozen other guys that have a great reputation.

When you're spending your hard earned money on guns, cars, motorcycles, boats, booze or any other fun thing, the last thing you should be doing is trying to save a buck/cut a corner.
Well known gunsmiths get their reputation by putting out great products in a timely fashion. Yes, there is the occasional hiccup, but they will make it right.

You mentioned the gunsmith offered to bed your stock or the chassis assuming for free.
Would you pay him to do that job? No? Then don't let him do it for free either.

As far as trying to get a reimbursement, I'd let it go. He already ate a second barrel time on the lathe.
For all the other issues, that's the education you just paid for.

It's like having a shitty girlfriend, I'd just move on.

 

[Dthomas3523]

This is getting aggravating. All of these “Gunsmiths” can’t ASSEMBLE a rifle for shit. How in this day are people still using no names shops and getting shafted.

it’s a Tikka. Pre fits are available. Buy a stock with a chassis, screw barrel on action, screw barreled action in chassis. Done. You just assembled or first precision rifle.

who is the so called “smith” so people don’t use him.

there’s a reason people are buying custom actions. You just throw them in whatever stock or chassis you want to use and bam they just work. Quality parts going on a build and all you have to do is assemble.

This is deceptive. You don’t buy parts and they always “bam” just work.

Shitty smiths are shitty smiths. But don’t propagate that everyone can just make everything work. That’s how we end up with all these “my so and so custom action is junk” when it doesn’t just “bam” feed after bolting it all together.

 

[jetmd]

@Mike Casselton

You have a Awesome gunsmith available at Altus Shooting Solutions in Baker, FL

Ern is a Great guy who is VERY good at his vocation.

Regards,

Chet

 

[Superjet]

Have you shot the new barrel yet? If it were me, that would make my decision on whether I bitched about the $200.

There are a lot of people with good intentions and poor delivery in this industry. Still blows my mind how many prefit spinners can't provide a reamer print or refuse to. 's

 

[Kadams1563]

This is deceptive. You don’t buy parts and they always “bam” just work.

Shitty smiths are shitty smiths. But don’t propagate that everyone can just make everything work. That’s how we end up with all these “my so and so custom action is junk” when it doesn’t just “bam” feed after bolting it all together.

Not really that deceptive.
Buy an impact.
buy a foundation
Buy a trigger tech
Buy prefix barrel
Buy action wrench
Screw action on barrel
Install barreled action in foundation
Torque screws.

done custom rifle built and complete lol.

 

[sleeplz]

Not really that deceptive.
Buy an impact.
buy a foundation
Buy a trigger tech
Buy prefix barrel
Buy action wrench
Screw action on barrel
Install barreled action in foundation
Torque screws.

done custom rifle built and complete lol.

That's been my limited experience as well. 3 different custom actions with different chassis/stocks and I haven't had any huge issues.

 

[Lawnboi]

Have you shot the new barrel yet? If it were me, that would make my decision on whether I bitched about the $200.

There are a lot of people with good intentions and poor delivery in this industry. Still blows my mind how many prefit spinners can't provide a reamer print or refuse to. 's

I havnt, I’ll be shooting it soon. Group photos the smith sent were ehh. If it doesn’t shoot I’ll be eating all of it cause it isn’t going back there

 

[Lawnboi]

I would seriously question whether or not a Tikka T3 needs bedded in a KRG stock.

Yea,that and the first bed job I paid for was not the best looking,barrel crooked in the channel and obviously didn’t check fit before hand. Not willing to gamble and send my 900$ mcmillan over for a bed job like has been offered.

 

[fdkay]

Correct he did offer to bed the chassis or new stock, which I have at home and not in Idaho, where the smith is. I paid for a bed job on a stock with a bad inlet, the stock was returned to AG and I’m guessing returned to the smith, it was bedded so I doubt they refunded him.

If I have to eat 200 bucks it’s not the end of the world. And if that all it cost for an education so be it.

LRI is on my list and will be getting my next build coming up shortly.

I'm going to say that he made every effort to fix this. He bedded the original stock and has offered to bed your current one.
It seems things have been amicable. I think, giving the fact that he has offered and you have declined, you should just drop it.

 

[Mike Casselton]

@Mike Casselton

You have a Awesome gunsmith available at Altus Shooting Solutions in Baker, FL

Ern is a Great guy who is VERY good at his vocation.

Regards,

Chet

Yep, I know about Altus. When I put my next rifle together, they will most likely get the nod.
He's definitely not local though.
They are in the panhandle and I'm in the Tampa bay area, about 7 hours away.

 

[Lawnboi]

I'm going to say that he made every effort to fix this. He bedded the original stock and has offered to bed your current one.
It seems things have been amicable. I think, giving the fact that he has offered and you have declined, you should just drop it.

This is kind of where I’m at right now. I’m not happy, but understand what he’s got in it and don’t want to be an asshole. He did offer. At the same time 200 is a good chunk of money for me. This is why I’m seeking some advise. The only thing that really leaves me sour about the whole deal is how the rifle was originally shipped and the fact that I not only shipped both back costing me 100 bucks, I also bought a bravo, which I never used and will lose money on, and shot over 100$ worth of ammo through it that is now unobtanium, on top of that the time I spent on 3 range trips to diagnose problems.

If it was just a bum barrel I’d feel bad for the guy. But it wasn’t.

 

[Lawnboi]

Well I put the ball back in his court. Said I understand the offer to bed my current stock, and that the bum barrel is out of his control. However initially I did not receive what I expected when flopping down the money for a custom quality rifle, and didn’t expect the additional costs along with ammo and time to diagnose a bad barrel. The stock was unacceptable when I received it, that is the reason my mcmillan stock is not there now being bedded

I just stated if he feels he has upheld his end I’m not going to argue over 200 bucks. It’s a shit situation for him. A shit situation for me and honestly had he handled it better I probably would have not made any stink what so ever.

I’m just glad I have my rifle back at this point. Sounds like others have had even worse.

 

[wadebrown]

I don't understand the hesitancy to shipping a rifle and/or parts to a well known gunsmith and using a local 'smith with a less known reputation. I have nothing against using local smiths that are not big names as there are a lot of people out there running small shops doing outstanding work, but going in blind when you can search out people who have had great luck on sites like this does not make a lot of sense. Given the cost of your time, gas, etc you can probably save money by shipping unless the 'smith is real close.

All that being said anyone can slip up on a job, I have always felt the measure of someone's business practices is what they do when shown they slipped up. Given the loud voice the internet, and small size of the precision shooting community, gives us professional well run gunsmith operations want to make things right so they don't get flamed on sites like this.

But what do I know, a friend and I set up a shop so we did not have to rely on anyone else.

 

[Lawnboi]

I don't understand the hesitancy to shipping a rifle and/or parts to a well known gunsmith and using a local 'smith with a less known reputation. I have nothing against using local smiths that are not big names as there are a lot of people out there running small shops doing outstanding work, but going in blind when you can search out people who have had great luck on sites like this does not make a lot of sense. Given the cost of your time, gas, etc you can probably save money by shipping unless the 'smith is real close.

All that being said anyone can slip up on a job, I have always felt the measure of someone's business practices is what they do when shown they slipped up. Given the loud voice the internet, and small size of the precision shooting community, gives us professional well run gunsmith operations want to make things right so they don't get flamed on sites like this.

But what do I know, a friend and I set up a shop so we did not have to rely on anyone else.

I feel I did a decent job vetting this smith and did ship my rifle out. Stellar reviews on another popular hunting forum I frequent.

 

[hafejd30]

I feel I did a decent job vetting this smith and did ship my rifle out. Stellar reviews on another popular hunting forum I frequent.

So at what point do you tell us their name

You know, to help us in our vetting process

 

[wadebrown]

I feel I did a decent job vetting this smith and did ship my rifle out. Stellar reviews on another popular hunting forum I frequent.

I stand corrected in your case, but I see many going the local route.

 

[Lawnboi]

So at what point do you tell us their name

You know, to help us in our vetting process

Maybe after the holidays, not expecting an email back anytime soon if at all. If you really want to know you can pm me, a few others already have.
Regardless of a refund or how well the barrel shoots, I won’t be sending another rifle his way.

 

[Lawnboi]

@Mike Casselton

You have a Awesome gunsmith available at Altus Shooting Solutions in Baker, FL

Ern is a Great guy who is VERY good at his vocation.

Regards,

Chet

A few of the bed jobs Iv seen on Altus page made me want to do a build with them. Very clean.

 

[OneMoreNoMore]

Yep, I know about Altus. When I put my next rifle together, they will most likely get the nod.
He's definitely not local though.
They are in the panhandle and I'm in the Tampa bay area, about 7 hours away.

You should check out GCP. He does a pile of PRS guns for the members at tradecraft. He’s in North Venice and travels to the matches at jtac, tradecraft and others.
He just finished up a 223 for me and it shoots great.

 

[jackinfl]

Yep, I know about Altus. When I put my next rifle together, they will most likely get the nod.
He's definitely not local though.
They are in the panhandle and I'm in the Tampa bay area, about 7 hours away.

Mike,
In Tampa area you're close to Rick GCP Rifle Co.
He's Solid. He's done a few barrels for me. Several, many, for the shooters in south Florida precision rifle association. Also, he can shoot!
He also runs matches at JTAC.

You also have Dana at English Custom Rifles. Another great guy.

Good luck, Merry Christmas

 

[Bradu]

Not really that deceptive.
Buy an impact.
buy a foundation
Buy a trigger tech
Buy prefix barrel
Buy action wrench
Screw action on barrel
Install barreled action in foundation
Torque screws.

done custom rifle built and complete lol.

Yep, that simple. Yet, there are countless threads and posts bitching about not feeding, trigger not working with a certain action, threads with a borescope pictures saying barrel is junk, and every other issue that people have trouble with

 

[Dthomas3523]

Not really that deceptive.
Buy an impact.
buy a foundation
Buy a trigger tech
Buy prefix barrel
Buy action wrench
Screw action on barrel
Install barreled action in foundation
Torque screws.

done custom rifle built and complete lol.

Quit spreading this shit. This is a big problem right now with “custom” rifles. It may have worked for you, but this isn’t always the case.

Again, stop it. You’re giving terrible advice and expectations for people.

 

[sleeplz]

Yep, that simple. Yet, there are countless threads and posts bitching about not feeding, trigger not working with a certain action, threads with a borescope pictures saying barrel is junk, and every other issue that people have trouble with

Yea, use a gunsmith and be without issues... Good thing there aren't any threads with gunsmith issues.

 

[hafejd30]

Quit spreading this shit. This is a big problem right now with “custom” rifles. It may have worked for you, but this isn’t always the case.

Again, stop it. You’re giving terrible advice and expectations for people.

I agree with @Dthomas3523

If your competent in assembling a rifle by all means go that route. But you need to know how to handle issues if they arise.

Some guys want to just use the rifle and not have to bend AI feed lips or worry about bedding a stock or properly mounting a scope etc

Just giving someone a list of parts is exactly how you come up with the “I have an issue” threads

It’s also how a guy shows up at a gunsmith with a box of parts or partially assembled rifle and needs them to complete it

 

[hafejd30]

Yea, use a gunsmith and be without issues... Good thing there aren't any threads with gunsmith issues.

You can get issues with anything firearm related. How the smith or company handles those issues will make or break them though.

Smiths who are “non name” who don’t know what they’re doing will screw up and either learn from it or sink with the ship

Smiths who have built a reputation have that because they know what they are doing and take care of their customers if issues arise

When you go to the smiths your not just paying for the part your paying for the customer service as well.

It’s how places like LRI, Tac Ops etc get the reputation. If you stick with companies who know what they’re doing you’ll come out a happy customer on the other end, period

 

[Bradu]

Yea, use a gunsmith and be without issues... Good thing there aren't any threads with gunsmith issues.

There are plenty of good smiths out there and there is no reason to be burnt by one with the amount of information on the internet. Shit happens sometimes but a good Smith will resolve any issues.

 

[Kadams1563]

Quit spreading this shit. This is a big problem right now with “custom” rifles. It may have worked for you, but this isn’t always the case.

Again, stop it. You’re giving terrible advice and expectations for people.

 

[Kadams1563]

I guess the 20+ impacts I have seen built on locally with manners, foundations, multiple chassis system, trigger techs, and jewels don’t count.

Keep it up have to keep these people
In business who make you wait 6+ months for a custom rifle that is so hard to assemble you can’t do it yourself.

 

[DairyDictator]

If he never actually bedded anything, I'd get that back but anything else I'd let go. You and the smith basically split shipping charges since he ended up shipping it back to you.

 

[hafejd30]

I guess the 20+ impacts I have seen built on locally with manners, foundations, multiple chassis system, trigger techs, and jewels don’t count.

Keep it up have to keep these people
In business who make you wait 6+ months for a custom rifle that is so hard to assemble you can’t do it yourself.

But is this 20+ builds, by 20+ different people, with no prior knowledge on assembling a firearm and just want standard prefit barrels etc?

If it is then excellent. But I can’t name 20 people within 20 miles that could take a box of gun parts and assemble them into a usable rifle. Let alone work out the kinks

Now if we’re talking at least 1 knowledgeable person who helps 19+ others that’s a different story. Not everyone has the tools and knowledge when they step up from a factory rifle platform

 

[Kadams1563]

But is this 20+ builds, by 20+ different people, with no prior knowledge on assembling a firearm and just want standard prefit barrels etc?

If it is then excellent. But I can’t name 20 people within 20 miles that could take a box of gun parts and assemble them into a usable rifle. Let alone work out the kinks

Now if we’re talking at least 1 knowledgeable person who helps 19+ others that’s a different story. Not everyone has the tools and knowledge when they step up from a factory rifle platform

Your right. This assuming people can turn nuts and bolts. If you can’t do that then no I guess you can’t put Legos together either.

 

[DairyDictator]

Quit spreading this shit. This is a big problem right now with “custom” rifles. It may have worked for you, but this isn’t always the case.

Again, stop it. You’re giving terrible advice and expectations for people.

Why should that not be the expectation? It's been the expectation for any AR platform rifle for decades now. Impact, Bighorn, Terminus, etc. all hold tight enough tolerance to take prefits. Most of the gunsmithing is done when the barrel is made and the action quality eliminates most problems you'd run into when dealing with a Savage or Remington action.

The only thing that's really missing is fine tuning. If you're running a 6.5 creed, 308, or something standard you probably won't have an issue. Most guys running a small caliber or something weird expect to have adjustments anyway.

Anything outside of feeding adjustments is probably equipment failure that will be taken care of by the manufacturer (TT fixes their shit if you send it in and say you're running an impact, use a competent smith to chamber your prefit and if you have issues they'll take care of it, etc.)

If you aren't mechanically inclined enough to torque a barrel correctly, and make some adjustments to the feeding system then by all means get a gunsmith, but let's not pretend that this stuff is incredibly hard.